21 July 1922, near Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, USA, d. 7 May 1978. Ely suffered from tuberculosis as a child and during convalescence, he taught himself to play guitar, harmonica and organ. He worked as a miner, until drafted for Army service during World War II, later returning to the mines until 1949. After he became a born-again Christian, as Brother Claude, he
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21 April 1907, near Weaverville, North Carolina, USA. The younger brother of J.E. Mainer and a fine singer and talented banjoist who developed a clever two-fingered style that made his playing readily identifiable. In 1937, after initially playing with his brothers Mountaineers, he formed his own Sons of The Mountaineers, which at times included Wade Morris, Jay Hugh
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